U.S., Canadian Metals Shipments Remain Slow

Connecting the Dots monitors all major economic announcements in the United States and Canada, but the Metals Service Center Institute also offers industrial metals industry-specific data products that provide much deeper analysis and insight. Visit MSCI’s website and click on industry data to learn more about our Metals Activity Report (MAR), Momentum Monitors, and Macroeconomic Current. Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• MSCI’s MAR for April 2025 showed a mixed trend for North American steel and aluminum shipments. In the United States, steel shipments inched up while aluminum declines persisted. Canadian service centers continued to ship less. Specifically, U.S. service center steel shipments increased 1.1 percent from April 2024 to April 2025 while aluminum shipments fell 10.6 percent. Canadian service center steel shipments declined 16.3 percent year-over-year while shipments of aluminum products fell 17.9 percent.
• According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. industrial production was little changed in April. The index for manufacturing fell 0.4 percent after rising 0.4 percent in March. In April, manufacturing output excluding motor vehicles and parts decreased 0.3 percent. The index for mining also fell 0.3 percent while the index for utilities rose 3.3 percent. Read the full report at this link.
• Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales in the country fell 1.4 percent from February 2025 to March 2025 in March. Sales were down in 13 of the 21 subsectors, led by the primary metal sector, which declined 6.5 percent, and the petroleum and coal product sector, which was off 4.2 percent. From March 2024 to March 2025, however, sales increased 1.9 percent.
• Regional manufacturing readings released over the last two weeks were mixed. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the manufacturing sector in its region continued to contract in May. The bank’s headline general business conditions index was little changed at -9.2. New orders and shipments increased after declining last month, but employment declined, as did the average workweek. Additionally, firms remained pessimistic about the outlook, with the future general business conditions index holding slightly below zero. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, meanwhile, reported that its manufacturing index rose from -26.4 in April to -4.0 in May. The reading for employment improved and the new orders index rose 42 points to 7.5, offsetting nearly all of April’s decline, but the shipments index declined for the fourth consecutive month, falling four points to -13.0, its lowest reading since November 2023. The manufacturing industry in the Midwest improved slightly, meanwhile. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s composite index was -3 in May, up slightly from -4 in April. Nondurable manufacturing declined, but durable manufacturing was mostly flat, with increases in metals and furniture manufacturing and decreases in electronic and transportation equipment. Production, volume of shipments, and new orders all fell moderately in May, however. Read the full report at this link.
• The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the United States, a key gauge of future economic growth, fell one percent April 2025 to 99.4 after declining by 0.8 percent in March. The LEI was down two percent in the six-month period ending April 2025, the same rate of decline as over the previous six months.
• The U.S. housing market appears to have slowed down. The number of new homes under construction in the United States increased 1.6 percent from March 2025 to April 2025, but was down 1.7 percent from April 2024 to April 2025. New home sales XX from March to April and XX year-over-year while existing home sales fell 0.5 percent from March to April and two percent year-over-year.
• The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits for the first time ever was 227,000 during the week that ended May 17. That number was down 2,000 from the week before. Averaged over the past four weeks, the number of first-time claims was 231,500, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week. In all, nearly 1.8775 million people claimed federal unemployment benefits during the week that ended May 10. That figure was up by 17,500 from the week before.
• In other economic news: the U.S. Producer Price Index fell 0.5 percent from March 2025 to April 2025 and 2.4 percent from April 2024 to April 2025; the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.2 percent from March to April and 2.3 percent year-over-year; and Canada’s CPI fell 0.1 percent from March to April, but was up 1.7 percent year-over-year.